Happy 4th

Matt and I scored an invite to a medical resident buddy's place on a
lake out in Acton, Maine so we are in love with life right now. Plus,
it's sunny. I'm going to go swimming! And there are boats. Happy
4th everybody.

Fina and Will

Are visiting again!!!!! Yayyyyy

R--A--I--N

It has been raining for weeks and weeks and it's getting a little old. I keep telling myself "better this than really hot" since I have a decreased ability to regulate my body temperature, carrying around this 50 extra pounds of pregnancy, but still...

Something that always transports me out of the grey gloom is looking at my friend James' photography. He really is so talented.

A Room Of One's Own

The baby's room is pretty much ready for her. Here's a little tour.
It hasn't quite gotten to the place yet where it's a fully functional multi-use room, but I think that guests will still be comfortable enough when they stay with us. I have more work to do to get it fully there, but for obvious reasons I was really concentrating on making sure it was all set for the princess to arrive.
Today I am 37 weeks which means according to medical opinion, she is full-term. The due date is still July 21st, but she could come any time between today and August fourth. Though I don't believe they would want me to go beyond July 28th, and frankly I would listen to them at this point. They could probably talk me into inducing now, I am so ready to get her out. Come on lady, join the party!
Point is, she could come any day now. The hope is that she will be early, and there are some signs that she's been showing that hint that she may be, but I'm really trying not to get my hopes too high. It doesn't help, however, that every time I leave work a few people want to give me hugs, since they're convinced that I'm going to give birth before they see me again. And that wherever I go, people look at my warily like 'am I going to have to drive this woman to the hospital?'

Today is also Matt's last day of being an intern. Tomorrow he starts in radiology, which is amazing.

Fourteenth Visitors: Jennie and Jeremiah

Jennie and her husband Jeremiah drove up from Boston and had lunch with us today, which makes them our fourteenth official visitors in Maine. Jennie is a friend of Tami's that I've now started stalking... er, I mean, become friends with. They have a great dog named Clyde who I think is very handsome. We took them to the Lobster Shack, which is near Two Lights State Park. It was supposed to thunderstorm today but it ended up being gorgeous all day, so they lucked out for their scenic drive up the coast (they also stopped and walked around Portsmouth, New Hampshire, which is a town I want to explore a little more once I'm in a more exploratory condition.)
There was a big crowd at Two Lights, which is to be expected on a day this nice. Clyde was a bit overstimulated I think, only made worse by the fact that pretty much everyone at the Lobster Shack made a beeline for him when we showed up, wanting to pet him and chat about their old boxer, or dog, or back condition, or anything else. (yay, friends!)
Jennie and Jeremiah both got lobster rolls, and everyone ended up sharing the fried clams they got for Matt, because Matt was kind of hungover from the night before (party down while you still can, Mattman). I had french fries. It was really nice being out by the water, even with people coming over every five minutes to talk to Clyde. It was also really nice to see Jennie and Jeremiah, I'm glad they drove up to have lunch with us. I was happy to check out the Lobster Shack, which I had never been to before, I don't know why. It reminds me of Mac's Shack in Wellfleet, which is nice to have a place like that so close.

Mara's Adventures in CSA Cooking: Rhubarb

As I mentioned, this past week was my first week of my Community Supported Agriculture group, which I have been dreaming about since the fall, signed up for in the winter, and have been eagerly anticipating since. At the first week there was a huge head of lettuce, arugula, chervil, radishes, strawberries, rhubarb, chives, and a small tomato plant. At first I was like "mmm, I'm going to make a strawberry rhubarb pie for the Mattman." But the strawberries were so yummy that I ate them all right away. I gave away the tomato plant, since I have no garden, and the radishes went all sad and soggy because I accidentally left them out. The rest of the veggies I ate up in a couple of the most delicious salads ever... (local arugula is so peppery - makes my nose tingle just thinking about it) except the rhubarb, which sat in loneliness on my counter, as question marks bubbled up in my head over what to do with it.

This is why I love the internet. After searching around for a litle bit, I came across some recipies for rhubarb-lentil dal and rhubarb-lentil soup. I love lentil soup, so I decided to give it a try. I don't really follow recipes that much, especially with soups, but this is what I did.

Summer Lentil Soup
2 cups rhubarb, chopped
2 cups celery, chopped
2 cups carrots, chopped
2 cups dried green lentils
1 cup green beans (frozen, chopped)
4 cups vegetable stock
chopped chives
dill, parsley, indian curry, salt, etc to taste

Bring about 4 cups water to a boil and pour over lentils, allowing them to soak for about 10 minutes. Saute the celery and carrots in olive oil in a large soup pot for about 5 minutes (I would normally add 2 cups of onion here as well, except I've had an onion aversion all pregnancy). Add the rhubarb for another 5, along with the frozen green beans. (I actually wish I had peas instead, I think they would be better). Add the lentils, chives (chives may not be necessary if you use onions, or maybe just as a garnish) and spices, then add the vegetable stock. Turn heat to low and simmer for 35 minutes. Season to taste. Then immersion blend the crap out of it if you like a smooth soup, which I do. It thickens as it sits. The rhubarb gives the soup this nice, light, slightly tart taste, almost citrusy. If you don't like indian curry, you could leave it out and add creme freche or sour cream and maybe a little tarragon would be good. I like curry-style lentil soups though, so I made a double recipe of the stuff, and now I have a whole ton of it waiting in my freezer for after the baby is born and we go underwater for a bit.

I think a lot of other veggies would be happy in this soup as well, namely red potatoes and cauliflower, which I'm now kicking myself for not using since it's starting to look annoyed hanging out in my fridge.

Thirteenth Visitor: Celine

Lucky thirteen is the lovely Celine, who was on the east coast
visiting her family and drove up for the day to see me on Saturday.
Celine lives in San Francisco now. We've been friends since the
seventh grade and I just adore her, but I don't get to see her very
often. She was astonished by the belly. I took her to the Old Port
and to Ft. Williams, but then I kind of ran out of steam and she had
to get back for a dinner. It was so nice to see her.

June Matt Update

I'm not going to lie to you. Matt is really awesome. I mean, he's always been amazing, but the last couple months it's like every time I turn around he is saying or doing something that makes me go "wow, Matt is the greatest man ever." Which is why he deserves the name Mattman I guess.
As for how he's doing, this is the last month of his internship and he's got about 11 days of work left, including this weekend. He's on a general medicine rotation, which he's done several times before, so there are overnights (he had one the night before our shower, turned around and drove down to Cambridge on no sleep to be at the shower... again, he's the greatest). He has another overnight this weekend Sat-Sun. He's just kind of getting through it at this point, since he's beyond over his intern year and performing these tasks that have nothing to do with what he's going to do in his career. He starts his Radiology residency on July 1st, so at this point he's just checking off the days, serving out his hours so to speak.
I can't really speak for him about how he feels about the baby coming but if you saw him interacting with my three year old cousin Catherine at my baby shower last weekend you might have some idea. He read her some book that we got, this baby book that was pretty simple stuff, a little too young for her. And she just sat there looking at him reading it to her, behaving like it was the most exciting story she had ever heard. And then she started playing with his beard and I thought I was going to pass out from the cuteness.

MINME's

Our first day in Maine was June 15th, 2008 - we have now lived in Maine for a year.
It's funny to look back at that post. I was so excited by Whole Foods.

In celebration of our first year, I'm kicking off the first annual Mara in Maine awards (or MINMEs)! These awards are given out to places and things that I think deserve special distinction from our first year. They are based on my opinion entirely, which is neither expert nor well researched. Basically, this is just an excuse for me to have fun with photoshop.

Best Restaurant: And the MINME goes to... 555! I will admit that Hugo's was a special meal, but whenever I walk by 555 on Congress Street, my salivary glands go into overdrive. We have yet to try Street & Company or Fore Street or a bunch of other restaurants that are supposed to be good in Portland, so we'll see if 555 holds its crown next year.



Best Bar: It's been 35 weeks since I've had a drink, but as soon as I can drink again, I'm going to Novare Res. This is a hard call, because there are so many fun bars in Portland, and I have to give a special shout-out to Bubba's Sulky Lounge for just being bizarre.



Best Park: A big MINME to Ft. Williams Park, for its size, accessibility, and beautiful photo op lighthouse. It's a must visit for everyone that comes and stays up here, and I am really looking forward to taking our daughter there for picnics this summer. I also really liked Wolfe's Neck State Park, it was so easy to walk around, and there are tons more parks that we haven't even glimsped in Maine. There could be a big upset next year is what I'm saying.



Okay, well that's it. Just three MINMEs this year, I imagine next year there may be further categories. I'd love to have Best Ice Cream, but honestly none of the ice cream places have compared to JP Licks in Boston, which is too bad. Best Museum and Best Beach are also going to be goals.

So much happened in Year One - we left New York City, found an apartment, Matt started his residency, I started a new job in local news, toughed out a pretty eventful winter season, and of course there's the small matter of a little baby girl who's due in five weeks. Today it's in the mid sixties and sunny, and very much like how it was the day we moved here, when I ran sqealing with through our apartment, seeing it for the first time. With the sun shining like this, it's easy to feel a sense of beginnings and endings, and total optimism about the future.

I'm ready for Year Two.

Fat Chickens

I met some fat chickens today at Broadturn Farm. It was my first
pickup for my CSA, and I'm so excited. I got lettuce, chives,
arugula, radishes, strawberries, rhubarb, and a little tomato seedling
plant. It was a gorgeous day to see the farm. I can't wait to eat
all my local veggies.